About Me
My path to becoming a therapist began outdoors. Before graduate school, I worked in outdoor education, an experience that was rooted in mindfulness long before I had language for it. Paying attention to the present moment, working with discomfort rather than against it, and finding steadiness in uncertainty were central to that work, and they remain central to how I practice today.
I went on to earn my Master's degree in Counselor Education from the University of Virginia, and have spent the years since building clinical experience across levels of care. Early in my career I worked in intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization programs specializing in anxiety and mood disorders, which gave me a strong foundation in evidence-based treatment for some of the more complex clinical presentations. Since then I have been working in outpatient settings, where I have focused my practice on adult women navigating anxiety, depression, and the perinatal period.
I hold a Perinatal Mental Health Certification (PMH-C), reflecting specialized training in the emotional and psychological challenges that can arise during pregnancy and the postpartum period. I take an integrative, relational approach to therapy, drawing from psychodynamic theory, ACT, mindfulness, self-compassion, and IFS-informed parts work. I believe therapy is most effective when it offers both a deeper understanding of yourself and a space to develop new ways of relating to your inner and relational world.
Excerpt from Mount Analogue, by René Daumal:
“You cannot stay on the summit forever; you have to come down again …
So why bother in the first place? Just this: what is above knows what is below but what is below does not know what is above. In climbing, always take note of difficulties along the way for as you go up, you can observe them.
Coming down, you will no longer see them but you will know they are there if you have observed them well. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer but one has seen.
There is an art of conducting oneself in the lower regions by the memory of what one saw higher up. When one can no longer see, one can at least still know.”
My Approach
I take an integrative, relational approach to therapy, drawing from psychodynamic theory, ACT, IFS-informed parts work, mindfulness, and self-compassion. Rather than relying on one framework, I use different perspectives to understand what you’re experiencing and what might be most helpful in a given moment.
I’m interested in both the why and the how: understanding where patterns come from, how they show up in your relationships and inner world, and how you can begin responding to yourself differently. I often use parts work to help make internal conflict more understandable and less judgmental - exploring the different parts of you that may have developed to protect you, even when their strategies are no longer serving you.
Mindfulness and self-compassion are woven throughout this work, helping you become more present with difficult thoughts and emotions without having to fight, suppress, or be defined by them. ACT offers practical ways to build psychological flexibility and move toward what matters to you.
The therapeutic relationship is central to all of this. I believe meaningful change happens through feeling understood, developing greater awareness of yourself, and experiencing a relationship in which you can be honest, curious, and fully yourself. My goal is not simply to help you feel better, but to help you develop a deeper understanding of yourself and greater freedom in how you respond to your life.
Ready to Talk?
Send me a quick note and we’ll set up a time to chat about how I can help.